This invention relates to a vehicle wheel suspension, and particularly to an annular elastomeric pad for seating the lower end of a coil spring that surrounds a shock absorber strut for the wheel suspension.
Wheel suspension of interest are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,325 to J. Mackovjak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,585 to G. Dronen et al, and U.S. Pat. 5,676,355 to N. Hayashi.
The vehicle suspension of particular interest comprises a shock absorber strut that includes an upstanding fluid cylinder having a piston rod connected to the vehicle body and a shock absorbing cylinder connected to the vehicle wheel suspension arm. The vehicle suspension further includes an upper spring seat and strut mount assembly attached to the piston rod and a lower spring seat attached to the shock absorbing cylinder. A coil spring is trained between the spring seats in surrounding relation to the shock absorber strut. The axis of the spring is offset from the axis of the shock absorber strut.
The present invention relates specifically to the construction of an annular elastomeric spring seat pad positioned on a rigid platform secured to the shock absorber cylinder for supporting the lower end of the associated coil spring. The elastomeric pad acts as an isolator for absorbing high frequency suspension noise.
The elastomeric pad of this invention has an upstanding peripheral flange that surrounds the lowermost convolution of the coil spring, whereby the flange acts to contain the spring in event of coil spring failure. The peripheral flange thereby prevents the failed spring from forcibly impacting the vehicle tire in such fashion as to produce a tire puncture. Specific features of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawing and description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.